Nantuket Bays are back in town. Bouchot Mussles.

The bays are back in town.
Conveniently, the week after the holidays are over, the weather has decided to clear up.  Temperatures in the North East have risen and the bay scallops are back. Sans shrinkage and ready for consumption, get them now or forever hold your peace.
About Rain Closures:
Sometimes we have no Bouchot mussles, other times we have no New Zealand cockles. Why, you ask? Rain Closures. There is nothing we can do about this except stay strong and steadfast as we wait for the closure to end. When it rains a lot, a shellfish area may be contaminated by effluence (waste run-off from the land). In order to avoid the distribution of contaminated shellfish, such an area must be closed long enough for the animals to purge whatever they may have ingested during this time. Hang in there, you will get your beloved cockles soon enough. 
As former vice -president Hubert H. Humphery once said:
"Unfortunately, our affluent society has also been an effluent society."

Razor Clams to the Rescue 1/04/11

RAZOR CLAMS TO THE RESCUE

Hoping to add some punch to your January menu? I don't blame you. Things can get dreary and bleak after the holiday craze comes to an end. I'm talking about the short days and long cold nights all alone in your frigid apartment (stop being a miser and turn the heat up already). There you are frozen, stiff as a popsicle, crying to your long distance girlfriend via "Face-time" on your new iphone-4 she bought you as a belated-Hanukkah / sorry-I-couldn't-help-myself-but-cheat-on-you-with-the-sexy-new-upstairs-neighbor-from-Italy present:

"WAHHHHHHH!! How could you!?!, I thought I could get over this, but I SOOOOOO CAN'T you heathen wench!! I don't care how many ipods you buy me, nothing will make up for you being an icy, mean and heartless devil-woman!"

Then you hit the street and decide that in order to punish that beastly knave for her wrong doings you will drink yourself into a frenzy. You look to the right and see Joe's Saloon. "Perfecto" you say to yourself, this will do. You order 18 shots of whiskey and 18 Pabst Blue Ribbons. You order 18 rounds for everyone in the bar. You max out your credit card and they kick you out onto the frozen sidewalk. You are drunk, sobbing and weak as a woodchuck. Although you know you should go home and sleep until April, you utilize your Iphone to buy a one-way ticket to your girlfriend's apartment in L.A (Brilliant idea, by the way). You hitch-hike to JFK airport and somehow make it there without getting mugged or killed. You board the aircraft, promptly barf on the red-head in the next seat over, and pass out. When you wake up you have landed in L.A. and you have no idea why or how you got there. Still behaving like an alcohol induced zombie, you cab it to your soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend's place and start ringing her doorbell incessantly. When she doesn't respond, you climb the fire-escape, perch on the awning of the small eco-friendly laundry-mat below her second floor apartment window and scare the living daylights out of her. The cops come, you get arrested, bada-bing-bada-boom, you are in jail.  Don't let this happen to you. Buy some razor clams and don't lose your mind to the "winter-blahs".

Actual Important Facts Below:

Razor clams are from Long Island. They are hand dug from the sand by clam-diggers. This must be done when the tide is very low; hence an abundance of razor clams around the full moon. The speed at which a razor clam reburies itself is very important to the clam digger because the faster it burrowS, the faster the digger must dig. Razor clams are "cold-blooded" organisms. Low temperatures make the clam sluggish and slow, that's why clam diggers love months that end in "R".

Clam Digging Nuns in Long Island

Sheepshead, Blackfish (Tautog) and Pike 10/19/10

Mollusk Busters: You are what you eat.

If you like the taste of clams and other mollusks then you will LOVE this week’s variety of locally sourced mollusk crunchers. Sheepshead, tautog and triggerfish are headlining, if you will, on the fillet tables of our warehouse.
Below I have inserted what I am referring to as a brief product identification you may or may not be interested in viewing.
Sheepshead: Horrifying sheep-like mug. Sweeter than clams (its primary food source). Nice white fatty fillets. Reppin’ the shores of North Carolina. 2-5# each.

Triggerfish: Need I repeat myself on how I feel about these deliciously ugly monsters? Charleston Bump, Carolinas. Don’t eat the skin. 2-4# each.

Tautog a.k.a Blackfish: Once there was a man from Cape Cod who caught himself a monstrous Tautog out in Buzzards Bay. He brought the fish home to his baby momma, causing her to lick and smack her lips in delight. He sizzled up the skillet and filleted the fish. He threw the flesh into the pan and dumped the head and attached skeletal system in a bucket on the floor. They sat down and began to feast. Then, all of a sudden, their ears perked up to the sound of the fish slapping around in the bucket. STILL ALIVE! Doesn’t get much fresher than that. 3-6# each.

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Pike it out!

Wild Walleye Pike is the flagship fish of the North American Fresh Water Fishery. Pike is also known as the PREMIERE sport and commercial fish of the mighty Great Lakes. It puts up a fight and it’s white flaky flesh won’t break the bank. 4-6# each.
So now that you are in the “know” about how ridiculously awesome Pike is, you have two and only two very simple options:
1) Buy some Pike from the market this week.

or...
2) Sign up for a week at Wally’s Walleye Kingdom in Ontario Canada. See below for details.
Wally’s Kingdom important information straight from their website:

“Wally's Kingdom is first and foremost a strict sport fishing camp. Our guests catching the Walleye Pike of their dreams is our number one priority. Trophy pike and Walleye is what we're all about.” 
Wait a second, the Pike of my dreams? Awesome! Tell me more…
“Upon arrival Wally will personally provide you with our custom printed contour map of Nungesser Lake outlining the lakes best features. Wally will go over the map with you to point you in the right direction to put you on fish, and then instruct our guides to leave you in a remote area of the woods.”

 

Wow, imagine, I will be alone in remote woods. That sounds fun, AND SAFE! What else do I have to look forward to?

“Pine Island is the Calving ground for the areas Woodland Caribou. The Caribou, Loons, Eagles, and majestic Moose will be your companions as you explore this remote unspoiled wilderness paradise beyond the roads. We advise rigid protective measures during your stay in caribou country as the females are very large and fast runners. Female caribou can become both violent and pro-actively aggressive, especially towards New Yorkers traipsing around in their woodland kingdom.”
So, you are going to leave me with a fishing pole in the middle of nowhere Canada with killer female caribou that run fast? Sign me up!

   before and after